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Prosser, VanHollen, Schimming…and Voter ID

Badger Democracy has obtained information through open records requests and personal interviews that point to a close circle of friends working together to push the State Supreme Court into taking on the Voter ID question – just in time for the November election.

AG VanHollen made a second request of the Court to take the case in late August; in spite of the law being declared unconstitutional by two lower courts. There are also two Federal cases pending against the Voter ID law in Judge Lynn Adelman’s Eastern District Court. The most compelling of which is “Frank v. Walker” (Case 2:11-cv-01128); challenging whether the law violates the fundamental right to vote under the Equal Protection Clause, violates the Twenty-Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments as an unconstitutional poll tax, and violates the Equal Protection Clause in arbitrarily refusing to accept certain identification documents.

Based on all these current and compelling Constitutional challenges, and the Court’s previous refusal to intervene; VanHollen’s request of the Court is a significant hill to climb. Unless he knew he had some inside help. Like David Prosser – conservative leader of the Court. Any direct contact with Van Hollen or his office would be too obvious; he needed a middle man…former Prosser clerk, Walker ally, and VanHollen associate Brian Schimming.

In late August, immediately after VanHollen’s second filing, requesting the Court to take the Voter ID case; Badger Democracy followed up on a tip that Schimming was acting as a middle man with Prosser and Van Hollen to lobby the Court to take up Voter ID. After several phone calls to Supreme Court Justice offices in the Capitol, an anonymous (for obvious reasons) and extremely reliable and non-partisan source stated that while Mr. Schimming was a frequent visitor to Justice Prosser; in July and early August there was a marked increase in these “visits” to Prosser’s office witnessed firsthand by this source.

Badger Democracy immediately filed open records requests with Justice Prosser for the following:

1. Schedule for Justice Prosser to include meetings and conferences from 7/1/12 – 8/21/12

2. Any communication or correspondence with or from Brian Schimming from 7/1/12 – 8/21/12

In addition, the following inquiry to DOJ spokesperson Dana Brueck:

Hi Dana,

I probably know the response to this, but am obligated to ask: Has AG Van Hollen had any meetings recently with Brian Schimming?

Brueck’s response was prompt : “Not to my knowledge…”

The Prosser Response came back on August 27. Prosser refused to comply with the schedule request, as it contained “personal” matters which were not subject to open records. In addition, Justice Prosser had no “personal contact” with Mr. Schimming during the time period of concern.

As the response was not pertinent to the request – having to do with “personal matters” a clarification was issued:

1. The schedule request is for his public schedule, in his function as a Supreme Court Justice. Allow me to clarify – the request is for Justice Prosser’s office schedule for the period 7/1/12 – 8/21/12 regarding Court business and/or conferences regarding matters before Justice Prosser as a Justice of the State Supreme Court.

2. The communication request regarding Mr. Brian Schimming and Justice Prosser is not, as your letter states, regarding “meetings or conferences.” This would be covered by the first request. Nor does it imply “personal correspondence.” Again, this is regarding official Court communication – including emails. I would clarify this request is for Justice Prosser emails and communications referencing Mr. Schimming, or emails to/from Mr. Schimming for the same time period.

A response was received on September 6, 2012 from Prosser’s office. The schedule again was not submitted. A statement was offered explaining that no entries specifically referencing “Court business and/or conferences regarding matters before Justice Prosser as a Justice of the State Supreme Court” were found on the schedule. Although my request was clear in its meaning – scheduled court business and meetings for Justice Prosser; this is clearly an attempt to sidestep the schedule request.

As for the second portion of the request, Prosser’s office reiterated that “there were no meetings between Mr. Schimming and Justice Prosser during that time period.” That response presents a problem. By this time, another source within the Court offices in the Capitol had independently verified frequent meetings between Schimming and Prosser during that time period. The two sources have zero motive or partisanship in this matter. They are merely conveying observations.

Badger Democracy has called Justice Prosser’s office twice since September 6, and asked for verification of the information in the open records request. Prosser’s office was also informed that conflicting information existed regarding their response; and asked if they wished to respond to clarify events. As of this writing, no response has been received.

Clearly, Prosser is not being forthright in his responses. In addition, Brueck’s response from DOJ was qualified with “to my knowledge.” Any coordination between VanHollen and Schimming on Prosser’s behalf could easily be done without her knowledge.

Brian Schimming has failed to respond to frequent phone calls regarding this matter.

The fact that there are two sources within the Court itself, independent of each other, corroborating the same information in regard to Schimming’s frequency of “visits” to Prosser’s office – and Prosser’s subsequent omission and denial, make the circumstances more compelling and likely.

The Court could announce the taking up of Voter ID as early as this afternoon; in spite of the GAB being on record that to implement the law now would create “chaos.” Brian Schimming, acting as a go-between for David Prosser and JB VanHollen; to use Prosser’s conservative influence with the conservative majority, to take up and reinstate Voter ID in Wisconsin. Just in time to create chaos.

7 thoughts on “Prosser, VanHollen, Schimming…and Voter ID”

And to think that many in Wisconsin think highly of this justice-he is simply a political hack for the GOP. Even in his court opinions, (e.g. Mark Green case), he chooses to belly up to political aims rather than constitutional issues

You write well, but as a reader I need a better understanding of how this reply was acceptable…

“Prosser refused to comply with the schedule request, as it contained “personal” matters which were not subject to open records. In addition, Justice Prosser had no “personal contact” with Mr. Schimming during the time period of concern.”

It was “personal” so you cannot get it.
There was “no personal contact” so it does not exist.

For Prosser to assert that the schedule included “personal” matters, is to say that his schedule isn’t subject to open records – when, in fact, they have to keep a court business (not personal) schedule – which is what I asked for. Again, in regard to Mr. Schimming, to qualify the contact as personal evades the point. The contact with Schimming, by default, is then concerning court business and not personal – as we know he had contact with him during that time frame as confirmed by two independent witnesses in the Court offices.

After the waukesha county clerk elected Van Hollen. he promised the GOp in Colorado he will do what ever it takes to suppress the vote. He also thanked them for the voting fraud which got him elected in his mind. Remember the county clerk counted 22,000 more votes than cast. Voter fraud has been rampent in waukesha county clerks office as we all know.

Seems like this would be an appropriate time to file a complaint with the G.A.B. noting that third parties have seen Justice Prosser meeting with Schimming, and, that Justice Prosser has denied this in violation of FOIA laws. This would seem to be something that the G.A.B. could then refer to the D.A. for investigation and possible charges.